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Over 515 reviews forOrange Park Architects from people just like you.

A

"

is courteous, professional, and responsive. I needed an architect quickly, someone who would have no problem working directly with my contractor," ...More who was already in place.

was able to meet right away and turn around his architectural drawings in a reasonable amount of time. I recommend

-- as long as you take care to have him work with a structural engineer who is readily accessible and can visit your job site. I liked working with

, and would've given him an A+ rating if I was just evaluating him. However, since hiring an architect generally means working with whomever he/she uses as their structural engineer when you need structural calculations, I was extremely displeased with the process with his go-to structural engineer. The structural engineer turned out to be someone based in San

-- I didn't know this up front. I only found out once I started complaining about the delays, when over a month had gone by and I still didn't have what was needed for permit submission. It made no sense since my job site was in LA. Had it been someone based in LA who could visit our property to see the existing structure and fully understand the changes we wanted to make to it, it would've been very different. I had to tell

that I wanted to use someone else, and found another engineer. That other structural engineer finished his work within a few days, and I had my building permits in no time. The whole experience with

's structural engineer was very upsetting.

did what he could from his end to make things right, which I appreciated, and is why I can still recommend him -- but again, only with the caveat that you not use the structural engineer (

) he'd put on my job.

-MICHELLE S.

A

"
I uploaded the floor plan, including stairs, loly columns, doors, and hvac. I then launched a competition for $500. I was a bit put off by

" ...More contacting me suggesting I have a higher award limit. I replied back that the going rate for basement design services by the local basement companies was 200-500.
With a few weeks, I had several companies and individuals submit their design ideas. Some were elaborate, some were well thought out. We picked three

(1st,2nd, 3rd).
We choose the best features of each, gave them to a contractor who re-did formal blueprints for us. We chose BetterBasement Co as our contractor (another Angie’s list highly ranked company).

offers many levels of competition and it comes down to how much work you are going to put in before the competition, and what level of work you need done. I didn’t need blue prints; I wanted practical idea and a vision.

Architect first - for around $1000 typically you will get site consultation, a few sketches showing what you said you wanted, and a preliminary (by the book) cost estimate - that you can use to figure if your budget or scope of work needs major adjustment. Then, if you go ahead, typically about 10-20% of total project cost for complete plans and specs (including above cost), depending on complexity and level of interior design detail, and if construction inspection services are included.

Generally, nothing is free with an architect - unlike a contractor where a bit of consultation and a rough estimate is a lead-in to the actual work he hopes to get (the construction/repair) and part of his bidding cost, an architect (and engineer) makes his living giving advice and consultation and developing designs and cost estimates - so giving it away for free is sort of like a dentist doing sample fillings for free. Some will come to your house to discuss your concepts for 15-20 minutes for free, basically to see if they want to take you on as a client or feel your job is the type or size they want, but you should expect little or nothing in the way of a design or cost estimate for free - the most you might get would be an opinion on whether it sounds, off the cuff, like your budget is roughly in line with your desired scope of the project.

On more complex or up-scale remodels, it is not unusual to contact several architecture firms and request proposals - where they basically come see the site, then give you a sketch or few or more common today, computer-generated altered photos of your place, showing conceptually what they can do for you, then you choose the one you like the most and go with that one for final design. Typically $500-1000 range fee (each) to get that done for small jobs, larger jobs will typically be no charge but that assumes probably $25-50,000 plus anticipated fees if they get the job.

Bear in mind in the latter scenario you cannot pick and choose betweenthe best parts of each proposal - the architect owns the design and it is copyrighted, so while you can choose bui9lding elements (dormers, bay windows, etc) from any of the proposals, specific design or color combinations are copyrighted by the proposer.

Architect Service reviews in Orange Park

F

Rating

“

Let me start off with, this contractor was referred to me by a friend.
They had done work in their house so I thought I would give them a try.
From what I could tell they did a nice job however I was warned about
them being over priced. If you want to use this contractor he comes
with an architect. Regardless of what they ...More say, they do not work
without each other. If you can make it passed the extremely pushy,
condescending, arrogant attitude of the architect you can get your
design for 1500-2000K. Once those are done, it is a hassle to get YOUR
PAID copies to bid out the job. I did my due diligence and bid the
project out to 3 other contractors that were recommended to me. After
an email exchange back and forth with the architect to get his
contractors' bid equal in services to the other bids, I received an
extremely rude voice mail from

telling me to throw my estimate in
the trash. I guess he didn't like the fact that all of the other
contractors were almost 15K under what he would do the work for. Not
to mention the architect is a sales person and pushes everything he sell
down your throat and didn't bring one piece of sample that I actually
asked for. Because all of his stuff is so dated it is not with the
times.

Stay far away from

and

. Had I looked up

prior to this in his old company, in Bridgeport, PA - Doma Design I would have seen the reviews of how this guy works.”

- Karen U.

A

Rating

“

This job has progressed perfectly in tandem with the home builder

Construction. Mr

is prompt to answer technical and design questions. He is well known to the local building departments and as such his drawings/plans are permitted rapidly without fuss. He uncomplicates the design and drawings process. ...More As a result the builder can build quicker and more efficiently.”

- christopher B.

A

Rating

“

I searched the local area on Angies list for an architect. I found

and gave a call to

. He came to the house and spent about an hour looking at what would need to be done to take this wall out.

thoroughly explained what the job required as far as structural support in the basement ...More and necessary dimensions of the beam to be installed in place of the wall. I decided to move forward with

, within approximately 2 weeks he had the drawings finished. He provided me with multiple copies which 1 would be submitted to the town and others to contractors for estimates.
I asked

to draw plans for the front entrance way as well. This drawing because it was the front doorway of the house required a few rough versions to be drawn to get an idea of how it would look. We discussed the drawings a few times and once we agreed which one looked best, he finished it and brought the final drafts to my house with the wall removal drawings. Both sets of drawing were professionally done on large 24'' x 36'' size paper with great detail and all of

's business and license information present.
I would recommend

to a friend and use him again for future work. Thank you!”

- Kenny R.

A

Rating

“

got started in a couple of days and got the work done in a couple of hours. Only problem was that the final price was $200 and I accidentally wrote the check for $220.....and he cashed it without mentioning that I wrote it for $20 too much. I'm going to assume it was an honest mistake on his part.”

- Sondra E.

F

Rating

“

I bought at deal for a backsplash in my kitchen. The company has not been responsive to my calls and it has been nearly two weeks. I want my money refunded.”

- Chelsey M.

A

Rating

“

met with us several times to complete the plans. He had some really great ideas that were much more innovative than we could have thought of. We are not designers! Ideas for where to place outlets, doors and considered we have grandchildren and pets that would use the patio, too. We saved the plans and chose not to build it at this time.”

- Sherrie B.

A

Rating

“

We like

's professionalism and his integrity. Sometimes that's hard to find these days, but we feel like we have found it in

. He, himself, was unhappy with A little patchwork that he did--maybe 6 inch by 6 inch. He pointed it out and insists on redoing it to make it perfect. What more can you ask for?”

- David C.

A

Rating

“

Awesome experience! This was my first time doing a project like this;

walked me through it, listened to what I wanted, gave me ideas, made great suggestions and went above and beyond to make sure the final plan stayed within my budget. I got exactly what I wanted - only so much better! An A++ for communication and professionalism! ...More